Luxman P-700U Headphone Amp

[musicbuff]

I'm interested in purchasing one of these. Some units are advertised as being shipped from Japan. Out of the box brand new, are these "Japan" units play-ready in the USA? On one selling site the P-700U is given one star and.the reviewer states:

 

"This unit for sale is the domestic Japanese model and will need a step-up transformer, which detracts from the sound quality. If anything goes wrong; the Japanese domestic model CANNOT be serviced overseas but must return to Japan, God only knows how long that will take and by the time you pay air-freight, duty customs clearance, the savings over a "normal export model, (which complies with CE & UL) is minimal.

 

Does anyone know this to be fact? I am aware a unit can be purchased from THE CABLE COMPANY or ON A HIGHER NOTE. Are their models the "normal export models" the reviewer is talking about?

[christopher3393]

Generally correct and not worth the hassle imo. I've owned several Luxman units and investigated this. There are those that claim to save $ on some models and be perfectly happy with the consequences (imo, step-up transformer performance is the biggest "if" in this equation), but I have my doubts.The best value in Luxman gear is in the used market with recent and latest models. Demos are sometimes priced fairly reasonably, but not a good value (again, imo). Luxman makes very nice gear. I just don't think the prices are very attractive.

[Mr Rick]

Generally correct and not worth the hassle imo. I've owned several Luxman units and investigated this. There are those that claim to save $ on some models and be perfectly happy with the consequences (imo, step-up transformer performance is the biggest "if" in this equation), but I have my doubts.The best value in Luxman gear is in the used market with recent and latest models. Demos are sometimes priced fairly reasonably, but not a good value (again, imo). Luxman makes very nice gear. I just don't think the prices are very attractive.

 

Actually in this case, as the units are Japanese spec, a step-down transformer would be required. The unit would work as normal. No doubt, all the rest is true. Too bad there isn't an American distributor. ( At least one I could find. )

[christopher3393]

Actually in this case, as the units are Japanese spec, a step-down transformer would be required. The unit would work as normal. No doubt, all the rest is true. Too bad there isn't an American distributor. ( At least one I could find. )

 

Check out On A Higher Note, Philip O'Hanlon, American Distributor. He's the one who brought distribution back to North America after a bit of a hiatus.

[AudioDoctor]

Music Direct also sells Luxman gear. There is a local audio retailer here in the Minneapolis area that does as well.